Depictions in Popular Culture
Over the years, Adyghes have been featured in various popular books and films:
- The 1962 Academy Award winning British film Lawrence of Arabia included a scene in which the British title character (Peter O'Toole) is captured by Turkish officers at the city of Daraa. His blue eyes and fair skin are remarked, leading to the question "Are you Circassian?", to which he replies "Yes, effendi".
- In the 1840 Russian novel A Hero of Our Time the narrator tells the story of a beautiful Adyghe princess named "Bela", whom a character abducts from her family.
- In Memoirs of an Arabian Princess from Zanzibar the author — who was the Princess of Zanzibar and was half Circassian and half Arab — narrates about the many Circassian Secondary Wives of the Sultan of Zanzibar.
- In a 2005 episode of the BBC drama Spooks lead character Adam Carter pretends to be a Circassian from Aleppo in order to infiltrate a people-smuggling route.
- The 2010 Jordanian film Cherkess, which takes place in 1900, depicts a unique encounter between the local Bedouin tribes and the Adyghe immigrants, in the region known today as Jordan, during the period in which this region was under Ottoman rule.
- Sarema is the Circassian heroine and title character in the 1897 opera of that name by the Austrian composer Alexander Zemlinsky (1871–1942).
Read more about this topic: Circassians
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